


Broken unity

by thiefofbluefire



Category: Bionicle - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amnesia, Betrayal, Bit of gore later, Eventual Relationships, Humanized AU, Multi, Platonic Relationships, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Things left unsaid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-07
Updated: 2018-01-27
Packaged: 2018-12-24 20:18:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12020220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thiefofbluefire/pseuds/thiefofbluefire
Summary: Strange things begin to occur on okoto when a figure in white disappears into the shadows and the toa feel the regrets about what they've truly forgotten.





	1. Breathe close upon the ashes...

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place after season 1 of Journey to One.

Two weeks. Two it had been, since Umarahk escaped with the mask of control. Two weeks, since the toa's first failure.

'No, not the first.' Ekimu reminded himself. 'There was when they couldn't bring down the skull grinder as well.'  
And while that was true, THAT failure hadn't left them as demoralized as this one had. There hadn't been time for that. Not when Ekimu and the mask of creation were in the eminent danger that the time had presented that day. Even then, the determination that the legends spoke of had bought time. Enough to secure victory, even at the cost of their pride and energy.  
But this time, they weren't as lucky. This time, their failure would have consequences. Without the mask of control, their chance of victory, when Makuta finally showed himself, would be slim.

The toa's lack of team work was to blame, Ekimu had understood that much out of all the arguing that the six had ended up doing. Pohatu hadn't defended himself very much when the fault was placed on his shoulders for not being able to do better. Though, Ekimu could say that they all needed to do a bit of work on their... Everything really.  
Which was, and wasn't, what they were doing now.  
Of all the topics that ended up being brought up, the toa agreed that finding umarahk, wherever he was, was of greater importance than picking out who among them needed to do better.  
So, with Ekimu in tow, the toa set out to the crater, the 'black volcano' as the villagers were calling it, where Ekimu and his brother did battle in another life, prepared for the worst and hoping for the best.

However...

There was no sign of Umarahk. Nor of Makuta's manifesting power.  
The black volcano was clear of minions, dark power, hell, Lewa had even dug up a shard of the mask of ultimate power, rusty and coated in the residue of time.  
Dispirited, and baffled by the lack of a threat, the toa retreated to the city of the mask makers to fortify defenses on the city walls, and to form a new plan regarding their enemy.  
Just three days ago it was that they agreed that they should scour the island for any trace of the illusive hunter and his dark master.  
Which was what the six were doing now. With help.  
Ekimu was startled that several of the villagers had put their feet forward and volunteered their aid in the search. At first, Ekimu had denied their requests, but as it would appear, the people had grown stubborn in Ekimu's absence, and refused to acknowledge that 'no' was an answer. So, however reluctantly, Ekimu allowed his people to aid in the toa's search. He worried over their safety constantly, but Tahu had assured him that he wouldn't allow them to be harmed.

Agil was quick to alert Ekimu to the presence that came into his workshop, though he knew who it was; Narmoto came by quite often.

Narmoto bowed gingerly and straightened up to a fuller height with a mild sigh. He was getting too stiff in his older age for such formal gestures.  
Ekimu hummed and stepped away from his veiw of the city to regard his friend's grandson. Odd how Narmoto wasn't at all like the late protector of fire, yet when times called for it, the two shared a passion that the mask maker couldn't forget.

"The watch tower is coming along nicely," Ekimu stated mildly. It was an idea from a villager of the jungle, Tyro was his name. His suggestion had been for the "less vertically challenged" toa to have somewhere to take off and land on that wasn't the ground.

"That's wonderful, mask maker," Narmoto responded halfheartedly. "On the subject of makuta's activity, I actually have something to report."

Ekimu started. " Well let's hear it then, Narmoto. What did you find out?"

The protector of fire took a breath and spoke, tense.  
"Undead. Skull creatures and more spiders."

"Where?"

"On the outskirts of the black volcano and into the jungle. And that's just what my search party encountered."

"Any sign of the dark dimension at work there?"

"Oddly, no."

"That's troubling, Narmoto. Are you certain?"

"I think I would have noticed if there was an off-putting mass of swirling darkness that echoed the voices of the damned, mask maker. It WASN'T there. In fact, it didn't even look like the crater was their point of origin."

Ekimu frowned. "Then where DID they come from?"

Narmoto looked of to his right with a sigh.  
"I don't know. They were quick to scatter as soon as toa Gali showed up to see our progress."

Ekimu heard Narmoto mutter something under his breath, but didn't comment on it.  
"Did you give chase? If they're running anywhere, it'll be wherever makuta's influence tells them to." 

Narmoto raised an eyebrow and looked at the mask maker like he'd grown a second head. "I'm no spring chicken, but Tahu managed to follow them quite a ways. I came back to alert the city, hence why I'm here. That's all." He sighed, rubbing the small of his back and leaning on the walking stick that supported his frame.

Ekimu supposed that he had done the best he could have, and his aging body had considered that a great strain.  
But a moment passed, and Ekimu looked over the village protector. He took notice of the laugh lines around his mouth, of the grey tinge to Narmoto's formerly black hair, withered hands from years of holding a society together, and his eyes... Tired, like they've seen their fair share of both miracle and tragedy.  
It's only then that the mask maker realized something.  
'He's older than Sutomu was when I died.'  
Ekimu's expression softened, and he waited for Narmoto to look back up.  
"Which way was Tahu headed?"

"Into the jungle, mask maker," the protector replied. "Knowing Tahu, the monsters didn't get far."

Ekimu hummed softly. "Very well. Return to the people, Narmoto. I'll... Apply this information to some of the old tomes and see if there is a better way to track the source."

Narmoto gave another bow and turned to leave. He hesitated for a moment before shaking his head and continuing out of the workshop.  
He doesn't mention to Ekimu that he had indeed given chase, and that an undead swordsman tried to stall him. He doesn't mention that he had been disarmed, and that the skeletal husk had suddenly exploded into a ball of fire before he could scramble for his weapon.  
And he especially doesn't mention that the flames didn't feel like they had originated from Tahu's power. For who else could set something on fire like that?


	2. As it may be flames that flare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sands of the desert hide many things. Some important, others not. Some friends, others foes.

Pohatu bit into his dried meat and chewed, grumbling to himself at yet another dead end. He thought he might have finally found some trace of Umarahk in the desert region when a large creature that resembled a massive skull spider had darted in between dunes. 

'Finally, something solid,' he'd thought.

But it proved to be nothing but wishful thinking on his part, as the creature was nothing but a great scorpion that was native to the desert, and barely bigger than Ketar at that.

Nilkuu had told Pohatu not to be so eager to find trouble, but his words didn't quite resonate with Pohatu. Instead, getting the wrong idea, the toa of stone told Nilkuu and the rest of his designated search party to call it an afternoon and head back to the ancient city. Nilkuu, good intentioned as he was, outright protested against Pohatu telling them to go back, but his words had fallen on deaf ears, and Pohatu didn't stick around for anything else.

He just didn't understand. None of them did! It was Pohatu's fault that umarahk had escaped with the mask of control, not Ketar's, not Ekimu's, HIS. If he hadn't been so unwilling to unite with Ketar earlier, then he wouldn't have been singled out. Then he wouldn't have been cornered and exploited, then umarahk wouldn't have even found the mask, and then he wouldn't have been able to leverage Ketar from Pohatu at all, and-

BOOM.

The sand scorpion squeaked at the thunderous sound, which helped shake him out of his stupor and listen.

"What was that..?" Pohatu muttered.

A breeze picked up and blew the hood off his head briefly before he heard it again.

BOOM.

It was close.  
Pohatu picked up his feet and started running. The wind caught again and his hood made a flapping noise. Which would have bothered him, if he wasn't so focused on getting to the source of the sound.

 

Well, sounds.

 

As Pohatu drew closer, he picked up on the sound of a blade sinking into bone, as well as the sequential Pop-Pop-Pop of a firearm. Was it his search party? Had they gotten into trouble when they tried to follow him?!  
Dammit. Dammit!

If Umarahk had targeted him again then he wouldn't be getting away this time. Not if Pohatu had a say in it.  
He climbed up a dune and pulled out his spear, ready for anything.  
Anything except for what he actually ended up seeing.

Beyond the dune was a ringed clearing, sandstone boulders lined the edges like a makeshift arena. Probably something that the villagers threw together so they could create their own entertainment. Though the ring's foundation was cracked, two of the boulders displaced.

Within the area, four skeletal forms surrounded a single warrior clad in black and yellow, wielding in his left hand a long blade on a short staff. In his right, a large cannon type thing with six barrels. Dangling from his shoulders were chains that clanked and weaved with every move his compact frame made.

Pohatu's first thought when he came back to his senses was to jump in and tell him to run.  
Said thought was banished, however, when two of the skull slicers lunged for the warrior, who ducked away from the first attack and parried the next. He swung the cannon up to the second skull slicer's head and fired with the Pop sound from earlier. Quickly, he pivoted on his heel and fired another round into the slicer that made the first attack. Both skeletons fell to the ground in piles of limbs while the third bobbed and weaved around the warrior, trying to jab an ancient sword into one of his sides. A futile effort, as the yellow warrior backstepped and sidestepped each attack, waiting for an opening before he struck the skeleton with his blade. The creature went limp and was tossed aside.

The fourth was quick as it darted into the shadows of the boulders as the three on one fight took place. It looped around to attack from behind, though the warrior didn't seem to notice.  
Despite Pohatu's initial shock, he leapt from his position and stabbed downward towards the fourth offender.

"Look out!" Pohatu shouted despite himself as the skeleton's skull split underneath the tip of his spear.  
The warrior rolled away from him and the skeleton, landing in a crouch with his cannon pointed in Pohatu's direction, ready to go.  
Looking at the warrior more closely, Pohatu noticed that the mask he was wearing covered the entirety of his head, and had two red spikes protruding from the top of his mask. Well, helmet. Said helmet also had two wide wings coming down on either side of his head, pointing outward at the ends, giving it a resemblance to a sting ray. Hanging beneath the mouth guard was what appeared to be a tube connected to a tank on the warrior's back. On his left shoulder was a leather looking pad, and on his right was two curved blades. Pohatu especially took notice that the blaster had one shot left in it's last barrel, and that the blade was reminiscent of a harpoon.

"Whoa there," Pohatu started, ire from earlier replaced with caution. "There's uh... No need to shoot...me."

The warrior paused and slightly lowered his weapon, tilting his head.

"Yeah," Pohatu continued. "I don't think we've been introduced, so... Why don't you just put that down, and- Hey!"  
Before Pohatu could finish his thought, the warrior jumped from his crouched position and took off in a sprint away from Pohatu.  
Confused, Pohatu grabbed his spear and whistled for Ketar to follow as he chased after the strange warrior.

The chase itself lasted a maximum of ten minutes, but under the Okoto sun, without the shade of his hood, it felt like it had taken hours. Pohatu panted as he picked up the pace. Finally getting close enough to see that he'd been doing this the hard way, he spun the chain on the end of his spear and the sand beneath the warrior's feet sank with every step, and he soon fell into the desert.  
Ketar made a victorious squeal when the warrior squirmed in the sand. Pohatu stopped in front of the warrior and pointed his spear towards the warrior's shoulder, close enough to his neck to warrant intense thought regarding his next move.  
The warrior stilled, and Pohatu gained control over his breathing.

"Innocent people, don't run." Pohatu wasn't sure where he'd heard the euphemism before, but it felt like a good opportunity to use it. "Who are you? And, where'd you come from? Where'd you learn to fight like that?!"  
The warrior didn't respond, and Pohatu felt his teeth clench in a snarl.

"Answer me!" He all but yelled.

At that, the warrior slowly lifted his head and regarded the toa of stone. Pohatu's eyes narrowed.

"Why are you looking at me like such a sourpuss?"

 

That wasn't what Pohatu thought he was going to say.  
Taken aback by the odd response, Pohatu almost didn't notice the chilly wind that ghosted through his hair.  
He shook his head and rolled his shoulder at the breeze, not taking his eyes off the warrior before him.

"What kind of response is that?!"

The warrior flinched slightly, it didn't go by unnoticed, and he sighed, looking down at Pohatu's feet, and then at ketar.

"Look, if you let me go right now, there won't be any trouble." The warrior said as he looked back up at Pohatu's face.  
"Please, you don't know what you're doing."

"As if." Pohatu grounded out. He wasn't about to let another potential threat get away. This warrior obviously knew or did SOMETHING, and answers were as welcome as an evening meal.  
Just as Pohatu was about to ask for the warrior's identity again, the breeze picked up and blew some sand painfully against Pohatu's leg. He tried not to wince, but he found he had to look in the direction of the wind when he heard a familiar voice call out.

"Pohatu! Look out!"

The toa of stone looked sharply at the direction of the voice, which he knew belonged to one of his teammates. He saw a figure in dark green armor with a large helmet wave a hand towards him, and a sharp wind cut through the desert in his direction. Trying to shove past the green warrior, was a blur of white and blue armor and dusty colored hair as Pohatu was knocked off his feet and sent backwards.  
Another gust of wind did the same to ketar, who was less pleased about getting knocked onto his back than Pohatu was.

Pohatu grunted and groaned in annoyance as he rolled over and pushed himself up out of the sand. What was Kopaka doing here at a time like this?  
He'd have to ask once he dealt with the yellow warrior.

The warrior in question scrambled out of his sand prison and frantically glanced from the green warrior to Pohatu as he helped ketar onto his back. A light flashed and Pohatu's united form raised his spear menacingly.

"Okay," the yellow warrior sighed. "So we're doing this."

 

Meanwhile the green warrior danced away from the efforts of a certain toa of ice, who was also not pleased about Pohatu getting knocked over. Kopaka was panting hard, his armor not fit for a battle in the desert. But his resolve to apprehend this mysterious green menace was solid as a glacier. The warrior glanced at Pohatu's direction, and Kopaka took his chance.  
The toa of ice feigned a thrust with his sword, making the green warrior dodge to the right. Then, Kopaka used his blaster to make the green warrior try to jump backward into a small ice wall that he'd summoned with his sword. The warrior hit the wall with his back, and Kopaka quickly commanded the ice to expand around the green warrior, forming a cube around his opponent.  
Kopaka allowed himself a sigh of relief before turning to check on Pohatu.

The united toa of stone thrust his spear towards the yellow warrior's shoulder, then to his abdomen, other shoulder, and hip area. All of these attacks landed, and the yellow warrior was forced backwards, defensive. But there were no wounds, and he would not fall.  
Pohatu struck and struck, time and time again. Everything hit, but it was as if the yellow clad warrior was made of stone itself.  
Kopaka knit his brows at the sight. Pohatu was united with ketar, and yet he was holding true.

"He's planning something," Kopaka said to himself.  
But before he could act upon the thought, he heard the sound of a weapon mechanism being loaded, as well as a shrill mental warning from Melum, his creature of ice.  
He backed away from the ice prison as a small explosion ripped its way through the ice from the inside. Kopaka shielded himself from the debris and groaned when the green warrior pointed not one, but two six barreled canons in his direction.

"Oh come on.." the united toa of ice sighed as the green warrior whipped his arms around almost rhythmically. The movement sent waves of wind in spirals that kicked up sand every which way. The force of each wave was hot with desert air, much to Kopaka's, as well as Melum's chagrin.

Pohatu swung the chain on the end of his spear to the yellow warrior's shoulder. The resulting blow finally moved him off his feet. He called out in pain as he landed in the nearest dune. Pohatu jumped around the warrior and kicked his blade away.  
The yellow warrior groaned when Pohatu pressed his foot onto the shoulder with the dual daggers attached to it.

"Now," Pohatu began. "You're gonna tell me what you know, or this is gonna hurt a lot. Got it?"

The yellow warrior seemed to parse this, and then he let out a sigh.

"It already does."

He didn't give Pohatu a chance to consider what that meant, as his mask immediately began to glow a surprisingly intimidating shade of yellow. Confused, and angered again, Pohatu made to swing his chain into the warrior's back-- and immediately regretted it.  
His spear yanked down into the sand extremely fast, taking his arm and the rest of him down with it. It stung his fingers to hold onto it, but only a fool would let himself be disarmed. Even if his weapon suddenly felt like it weighed an actual ton.

The yellow warrior rolled away and plucked the harpoon out of the sand before crouching up and firing the last shot from his canon into the ground at Kopaka's feet. The toa of ice was thrown off his feet and the union between toa and creature was severed in a curtain of sand. The green warrior leapt backwards at the same time that Kopaka hit the ground, landing closer to the yellow warrior.  
Pohatu cursed loudly as he let go of his spear and threw a hard punch into the yellow warrior's shoulder. He felt a glimmer of satisfaction at the sound of a bone cracking, and his opponent yelled out in pain at the contact.  
The united toa of stone relished the moment a little too much, as it was only a matter of seconds before two of the same kind of projectiles exploded in front of his chest and knocked him quite far from the warrior in yellow.

The green warrior dashed over to his comrade and holstered the canons on his back as he helped him to his feet. The two whispered something to each other, shared a nod, and disappeared into the sandy winds that the two conjured with a syncronized wave of their hands.

 

Kopaka wobbled to his feet, ears still ringing faintly, and scoured the area with his eyes. He growled to himself as he trotted over to Pohatu, assessing his condition. The toa of ice wiped the sweat off his face and panted as he shook his teammate. Pohatu stirred slightly, and Kopaka quickly cooled one of his hands with his powers, pressing it to the toa of stone's forehead. This got him going, as he sputtered out a dry, breathless cough.

"Are you okay? Anything broken?" Kopaka asked.

Pohatu groaned and winced as he sat up.  
"I don't think so.. the.. the thing didn't hit me but, gah it stings."

The toa of ice nodded and moved to the area on Pohatu's chest where the pain was. He hesitated for some reason before gently undoing the knot that secured Pohatu's tunic around his torso. He grimaced at the skin of his chest and softly touched his cool hand to the bruising flesh. Pohatu winced again and snapped his hand onto Kopaka's wrist. The toa of ice flinched quite noticeably and leveled a hard stare at Pohatu. Different from a glare, that's what the toa of stone was doing.  
The two sat there, unwavering.

"What are you doing?" Pohatu ground out.

"Trying to numb some of the pain off," Kopaka replied, sounding coldly unimpressed. "So you can stand again."

Pohatu let his hand go as Kopaka yanked it back, tenderly rubbing his wrist like it was hurt.

"I think you'd be in much more pain if you had any broken ribs," Kopaka reasoned, taking a pouch off his belt and checking the contents. Pohatu noticed how prominent the sunburn on his pale face was as Kopaka did so. Feeling the heat on his own nose and cheeks, he fiddled with his hood until it sat over his hair, casting shade over his eyes. 

"But, I'm not really an expert so you should check with Nilkuu just to be sure." Kopaka emptied the contents of the pouch and grabbed a large handful of sand, pouring it inside.  
"Until then, take this," he offered the pouch to the toa of stone.

Confused, Pohatu let it fall into his outstretched hand. It wasn't heavy by any means, but he was surprised at the temperature.

"It's cold," he said. It wasn't exactly a question, but he did kind of expect an explanation.

"When you feel particularly sore, just press it to the painful area. Since you don't like me touching you. It'll take a bit of the pain off."

Interested, Pohatu tenderly pressed the pouch to his bruising chest and abdomen and quickly started feeling it's numbing effects. He inhaled and let it out softly as the pain started to ebb. Briefly he wondered how Kopaka thought the idea up as ketar crawled out of the sand at his side.

"What happened?" Kopaka suddenly asked. "It looked like you had him there."

Pohatu frowned at the question. Kopaka was clearly referring to the turn around that the yellow warrior pulled off. Frustration hitched his breathing, which hurt, so Pohatu forced himself to breath more calmly. He looked to his teammate for some kind of answer as Kopaka loosened the blue scarf around his neck and shoulders. Then a realization hit him.

"What are you doing out here?" Pohatu asked, bewildered.

"What?" Kopaka knit his brows.

"You know. Out here. In the desert. Where it's hot. And you aren't as powerful." Pohatu drawled out. "Why did you come here?"

Realization dawned on Kopaka's now sunburned features and he quickly clarified that he was chasing the green warrior from the desert border. Melum, Kopaka's partner had felt a very real kind of psychic call emanating from the stranger.

"It was like... Some kind of summon, or a call to arms. Kind of like the unity masks. I asked him what he was doing, and what the call was for, and then he just took off running."

"And you didn't think that he was leading you into a trap?" Pohatu asked sarcastically.

"Actually, I was hoping that he was running to wherever he came from. Then I might have gotten an answer about who he was. Or what exactly he was doing. But... Well, you kind of know the rest," the toa of ice finished his story, sheepishly rubbing sweat off his brow.

Pohatu paused and moved Kopaka's pouch to another tender area of skin. He considered the toa of ice and his story, noticing that Kopaka's lip was split as he took off his eyepiece and started digging the sand out of it. There was a light thrum of amusement at the meticulous way Kopaka worked to get as much of the desert off of him as possible. It must have been showing, as Kopaka soon turned a darker shade of red and sighed incredulously.

"I have weird looking tan lines, don't I?"

Pohatu jumped in his seat and was about to rebuke the question, but stopped, bit his lip, and snorted.

"Yeah. You actually do." He chuckled as Kopaka buried his face in his hands, grumbling quietly. "I'd offer some sun oil, but I think the damage is already done."

Kopaka peeked between his fingers and leveled a glare, which made Pohatu chuckle lightly again. The toa of ice dropped his hands and set back to cleaning out his eyepiece, a slight smirk danced on his face.

"Well, considering that they made the stone-faced toa of stone laugh, I guess things could be worse."

The warmth in his tone gave Pohatu a moment of pause. He'd never really had a decent laugh since he woke up on the beach at the end of this desert. He'd been told that he was a toa, told that he was a hero and that his help was needed, and he'd just thrown himself into the role. Happiness and all the other mushy, tender feelings just weren't factors. Which felt off. It was like he used to be someone who smiled more often.  
Was he happy?  
Why did he leave that behind?

The sound of fingers snapping brought him out of it. He blinked twice before he processed that Kopaka was trying to get his attention.

"Are you okay? You zoned out for a second."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Pohatu affirmed. "It's just, you know. Pain."

Kopaka furrowed his eyebrows and clipped his eyepiece onto his face. The large lense adjusted as Kopaka leaned just inside of Pohatu's personal space. The lense then focused intently on him. All of him.  
It was a thing that Kopaka had always been able to do, but it wasn't something that he did often. Probably because it was creepy, like he could see everything about you. All the insecurities, all the walls built to keep them at bay, every lie, every false promise. Every scar or embarrassing mark that had no explanation for being.  
He never commented on what exactly he was doing, which didn't help much.

Kopaka pursed his lips and unfocused the lens, humming thoughtfully.

"I don't think I'll retract my statement about your ribs," he began. "But you might be concussed."

"Great.." Pohatu groaned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy jeeez. I meant to write for this a lot sooner, but I got sidetracked BIG time. I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner. Not after a 4-5 month interval.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is appreciated.
> 
> Headcannon: Ekimu the mask maker was good friends with Narmoto's ancestor and former protector Sutomu, who was present for Ekimu's burial after the first fight with Makuta.  
> Also, journey to one takes place about half a century after the battle between the mask makers. Just wanted to clarify.


End file.
